A baby born with an oversized tongue that could have choked her to death can finally smile after surgeons successfully sliced half of it off. Aparajit Lodhi was born with a rare congenital anomaly called Macroglossia, a medical term for an unusually large tongue. See the photo of the baby, after the operation, below:
After the congenital disorder was discovered at birth, doctors told Aparajit’s parents that their little girl was not going to survive for much longer. The rare condition would have caused her tongue to swell up so big that it inevitably suffocated her to death. Mum Mini Lodhi, from Jabalpur in the north Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, said:
“I was horrified to see the baby with her own tongue stuffing her month. She was crying continuously.
“I knew she was in pain and also hungry. But I was helpless. I could neither share her pain nor nurse her because the overgrowth had clogged her month. But we were determined to save our child come what may.”
Aparajit was kept alive using a breathing apparatus and at just four-days-old underwent an operation to reduce the size of her tongue. Dr Agarwal, head of pediatric and newborn surgery at the state-run Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College and Hospital, where the operation took place, said:
“She was not able to swallow anything because of this giant tongue. Not only after birth, but the baby was not able to swallow anything because of this condition in the womb also. After the operation, she was able to swallow for the first time ever. It was a big tumour in the tongue and it took two hours for the team of doctors to remove the growth.”
Mini, 28, said:
“Finally, I was able to nurse my baby after four-long-days. It was for the first time, I enjoyed the bliss of motherhood. It was for the first time, I saw a smile on my little angel’s face. We are so relieved now.”